"Odyssey", directed by the Cronenweths via production company
Untitled,
transports viewers from the comfort of their living rooms into a
galactic journey through outer space – complete with star fields,
a collapsing sun, gamma ray bursts, meteor showers and gorgeous
nebula. The :30 spot opens as a family dons their 3D glasses and
turns on the Panasonic 3D HD TV, which quickly becomes a portal
into an alternate galaxy. The 3D experience proves so immersive
that the family is actually transported into the screen and begins
to float through space. They watch incredulously as astronomical
elements float past in a meteor shower and reach out to feel the
surrounding planetary objects, begging the question, "With 3D this
lifelike, can we still call it a TV?"

All of the CG elements in the spot including the sun, meteors,
star fields, nebula and particle effects were created by Brickyard.
To achieve a lifelike, 3D, space aesthetic that would showcase the
television's new 3D capabilities, Brickyard's Santa Monica team
started with test comps and then built CG models of the sun using
Autodesk Maya. From there the team continued generating the rest of
the planetary elements– lighting and animating each as it passed
through the sequence of events– and tapped Renderman for
rendering. Brickyard also constructed displacement maps and hand
painted a number of textures to contribute to a stylized look to
the elements. When it came time to design and animate the meteors,
the team created a number of different rocks and generated
realistic textures– ultimately using a combination of particle
instancing and hand animation.

While designing and executing the planetary CG components of the
spot proved no difficult task for Brickyard's seasoned team of
artists, animating a realistic representation of the scientific
events that occur throughout the ad with a tight deadline looming
overhead proved to be one of the greatest challenges.

"Constructing a lifelike depiction of a series of natural events
that you can't see physically happening before you is a difficult
task," said David Blumenfeld, CG Supervisor, Brickyard VFX. "Since
we couldn't physically view the sequence, we had to imagine the
various parts in action and find ways to create an interesting
visual representation, while remaining true to the science behind
it– all in a short amount of time."

To overcome these challenges, Brickyard's Dave Waller and David
Blumenfeld provided on-set supervision during the original shoot in
which the Cronenweths used flying rigs to accurately capture the
flying family. The team shot with a RED digital camera, which
allowed Brickyard to walk away from the shoot with footage and
start adding in the CG elements that very same day.

Once all of the variations and animations were completed, the
Santa Monica office provided a variety of elements to Brickyard's
Boston office, where lead 2D artist Sean McLean took over. Arnold
Creative Director Roger Baldacci sat side by side with Sean while
he combined the 3D pieces with his own newly created 2D elements.
Sean used actual Hubble imagery as reference for the final
composite.

About Brickyard VFX

Located in Boston and Santa Monica, Brickyard VFX is an
independent visual effects boutique specializing in top quality
visual effects from 3D characters through to compositing. Artist
owned and operated, the company was founded in 1999 to bring
clients a level of customer service, craftsmanship and focus
difficult to find at facilities today. Brickyard's creative
expertise on set and in the studio has been applied to model,
animate, light, texture, track, color correct and render seamless
digital effects for Pontiac, Bud Light, T-Mobile, NBA, Visa, Sprint
and many other accounts. For more information, please call
Brickyard VFX Pacific at (310) 453-5722, Brickyard VFX Atlantic at
(617) 262-3220, or visit www.brickyardvfx.com.

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